Qeerransoo Biyyaa-Admin-February 15, 2010

I am most astounded and most fascinated by the way young and intelligent Oromo intellectuals have recently refuted the shameful, mendacious, colonial reports of BBC
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7428936.stm), which breaks all records of misinformation and disinformation when it comes to Africa, and more particularly East Africa.

Of course, no one would believe a total lie; the BBC experts on savage half truths know this point very well. That’s why they serve the information depleted from its real, historical and political background understanding. It does not take much more than common sense to denounce BBC’s disreputable colonial forgery.

In fact, the BBC would be constrained to tell the complete truth, if such efforts of misinformation and disinformation were constantly and systematically denounced, and BBC’s criminal colonial attitude exposed to the indignation of the world’s nations.

BBC’s Systematization of Lie

In fact, BBC’s way is childish; it consists in a sort of reductionism, like the following brief story: “A man was tied up in a tree. As no one passed by, the man – having not drunk or eaten anything for an entire week or so – died”. Of course, he died, but don’t tell me that there is no responsible; accountable for the crime is the person(s) who tied up the man. But BBC’s systematization of lie does not include anything about the criminal.

Yet, the criminal is real and existent. The reporter’s failure to mention the criminal in the above mentioned story makes of the reporter a shameful accomplice of the criminal. Someone (the killer) ties a person to a tree and abandons the person to thirst, starvation, and death, and another (the reporter) does not speak about the crime perpetrator but about the corpse, the dead body.

This is BBC mendacity, duplicity, and complicity; unrepentant, pernicious, inhuman England in its most inhumanly ugly face. The English mass media do not differ from the criminal colonials of the Scramble for Africa; they continue the colonials’ deeds through their false news and erratic reports.

BBC: silent on Genocides perpetrated in Fake ‘Ethiopia’ by Racist Amharas and Tigrays

In the aforementioned brief story, the tied person represents the subjugated, tyrannized and dehumanized nations of Abyssinia – fallaciously and criminally re-baptized as ‘Ethiopia’. Tied up in a tree, and chained in handcuffs are the Oromos, the Ogadenis, the Sidamas, the Afars, the Kaffas, the Shekachos, the Agaws, the Shinashas, the Anuak, the Berta, the Gumuz, the Kambatas, the Wolayitas, and the Abyssinian (Amhara and Tigray) Muslims, who are amount to ca. 82% of the ominous country. All these different nations that have nothing to do with the Semitic Amhara and Tigray Monophysites have been gradually invaded by or conceded (by whom else? – the British) to the latter; and ever since, they have been exposed to national and spiritual genocide – without the disreputable BBC publishing anything that would mobilize masses allover the world against Africa’s most appalling tyranny.

In the aforementioned brief story, the killer (the guy who tied the person to a tree and abandoned the person to death) is the world’s most appalling tyranny, the most totalitarian and most obsolete state of the world, Abyssinia.

Abyssinia (Fake ‘Ethiopia’): the World’s Most Obsolete State

A state whereby inhuman, heinous and racist pseudo-Christian monks give the order to mass extermination and spiritual genocide of numerous nations to the hereditary or non hereditary tyrannical rulers; for them a fake, baseless and fictive entity, named ‘Ethiopia’ (through the usurpation of the historical name of Ancient Sudan where thrived the Kushitic kingdoms that were named ‘Ethiopia’ by the Ancient Greeks and Romans) would serve to impose their Satanic, pseudo-Christian and anti-Christian beliefs on numerous neighboring nations.

Abyssinian Tyranny, Waiting the False Christ of the Amhara Monks

Working under English colonial approval, the monarchical, pro-Communist and pseudo-republican Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic rulers want to perpetuate their tyranny, and complete their genocide of all the aforementioned subjugated nations, because their monks promised them that their false Christ is about to come, and “he” will reveal to the rest of the world the false Ark of the Covenant that they keep closed in their shameful buildings, imagining that it is the real, historical Ark of Covenant which is known through Biblical excerpts.

To mount up their Satanic conspiracy and to diffuse (in its support) an incredibly falsified and racist version of History, the Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Neo-Nazi Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian rulers, prohibit every development in the vast prison that is their country, if the project was not launched, managed and profited by them.

Promoting Traitors to Later Butcher Them: Typically ‘Ethiopian’ Method

The few exceptions made were cases of numerically very few renegades of the subjugated nations, who betrayed their nations’ struggle for liberation, freedom, independence from the Amhara and Tigray Neo Nazi pestilence, and national survival.

As usually happens in cases of traitors, many of them were finally massacred indiscriminately.

Economy does not Function at the Time of Rain already!

In a pseudo-country where criminal Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic gangsters become settlers in occupied territories (of all the aforementioned subjugated nations), and with the help of military extract all the profit from agricultural activities, it is comical to consider the drought as reason for the famine.

In a pseudo-country where criminal Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic gangsters control the totality of the internal trade (let alone the external trade), it is criminal to say that crops “did not grow” because “it did not rain”.

Crops did not grow, because it is prohibited to Sidama, Oromo, Anuak and other agricultural workers to purchase crops and cultivate lands – already.

In a pseudo-country where criminal Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic gangsters control the state run economy, the administration, the education, the army and the pseudo-justice, it is comical to speak about “rain”.

In the execrable and inhuman tyranny of fake Ethiopia, the only rain that falls regularly is the Rain of the Cut Heads.

I urge you to read the following criticism written by an Oromo intellectual in exile; the text selected because of its authenticity and clarity was published first in the OLF (Oromo Liberation Front) website.
It can serve as good seminar for the disreputable pseudo-journalists of the BBC and the other mass media accomplices of the Neo-Nazi Abyssinian tyrant Meles Zenawi.

Reason of Famine: the Existence of ‘Ethiopia’

React by all means against the BBC; flood them with letters and emails of protestation. Their next report should state that the famine in fake ‘Ethiopia’ is due simply to the existence of the dysmorphic, dysfunctional and abnormal state of fake ‘Ethiopia’ itself.

When it will be broken down to 10 or 12 pieces like Yugoslavia, every independent nation will exploit its own natural resources, and through a consistent and comprehensive nation building, they will achieve water sufficiency, agricultural development, and socio-economic progress, devoid of the Amhara – Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) pestilence.

Unexplored angles to Ethiopia’s famine news stories for the international media

(http://www.oromoliberationfront.org/News/2008/Unexplored%20angles.html)

“The rains did not come. So the crops did not grow and people are desperate…” Wendy Urquhart, BBC News May 30, 2008.

I was provoked to write this article after I read and watched a few of the storylines the international media and news agencies are pursuing in terms of covering the current famine and drought in Ethiopia.

Before I go into my topic for today, I would like to first start off by commending the efforts that the international media and news agencies are making to cover the current humanitarian crises in Ethiopia.

In the firs paragraph, I quoted the way the BBC News reporter excellently opens here description of the drought and starvation in Oromia region, East Shewa Zone. If I were to report on the situation there, I would not have started with a better phrase than the BBC reporter did. The reason I isolated this excellent quote is to suggest a more profound angle towards researching and covering stories of famine and drought in Ethiopia. It is primarily to inform than to critique. The quote makes a causal link between the absence of rain and failure of crops to grow and result starvation. Yes, I agree with the reporter that the immediate cause of drought and starvation is the absence of rain. However, the fundamental angle the story leaves unexplored is the fact that these droughts like its predecessor from year s 1984-85, and 2000 are man made and the direct consequences of government caused conflicts and the lack of commitment to sustainable development. Another opening by Reuters reads, “Famine Returns to Ethiopia”. Similarly, it makes connection between absence of rain and crop failure.

Ethiopia as country and Oromia as state are the sources of many gigantic rivers that the agricultures of our neighboring courtiers such as Sudan, Egypt, Somalia, thrive on. An elementary school geography student will be able to give us a list of these rivers amongst which are the Nile, Wabe Sheble, Awash, Tekezie, Ghibe to name just a few. Wabe Sheble flows southwards for thousands of kilometers into Somalia and of course the Blue Nile flows into Egypt transporting our fertile soil. So, why are we starving and why are we always on the news for it? The answer is simple: the central governments have done nothing in terms of using the donors’ money to expand irrigations into areas that are arid and semi-arid. In fact, most of the rivers I mentioned pass right through the residential areas of the drought struck and the starved people. Perhaps, publicizing these is a major angle that the world media outlets can take in terms of story angle so that the real problem is addressed, not the symptoms.

Prior to the drought of 1984-85, the Derg military junta in power was wasting public money on extravagant parties and banquets. EPRDF/TPLF regime in Addis Ababa/ Finfinnee has also engaged in extravagant and lavish millennium parties from September 2007 up until now. These parties are restricted within the party circles while emaciated children and mothers are falling like flies in the villages of Eastern Oromia State, Ogaden, and Borana. In fact, these are the areas where millions are reported to be needing immediate food aid, but I suspect the whole country is starving including employed people in the cities although the degree is different. These are also the very areas widely known for their dissent against the oppressive and racist ethnic government. Where there is no drought, a strategy of direct ethnic-cleansing is carried out. An example of an ethnic-cleansing is the ongoing armed attack the Oromo by the Gumuz militias, which killed over 400 unarmed civilians, according to reports. Substantially, Ethiopia’s chronic famine problem is political problem that arises from lack of a concerned leadership. The country’s leadership, more often than not, uses famine to rend political opposition from pro-democracy and development groups. This is part of larger strategy to make the masses ’starve or surrender’, to use a famous book title.

It can become very easy and addictive to reduce the cause of famine and drought in Ethiopia to a natural cause because it is easy to blame nature. The worthy approach is to investigate the patterns of government military spending, to analyze whether donors’ money /food aid is channeled to the right recipient, and whether funds are used for development. Are there irrigation schemes on, at least, tributaries of the major rivers as development effort? Not one I know of. A genuine and enduring effort to help Ethiopia must be to pressurize the government to stop wars inside and outside of its territories and to urge it to negotiate with opposition groups in order to come to consensus to form a new and inclusive transitional government that can facilitate democratic elections.

The permanent solution of ending the image of Ethiopia as a country notorious for its drought, famine and conflict lies in the hands of all stakeholders nationally and internationally. Every Ethiopian news website or radio-broadcast from the Diaspora have an editorial and humanitarian responsibility of shaping its coverage of current famine by linking it to not only natural climate changes but also to the EPRDF/TPLF’s misguided agricultural policy and its insensitivity towards sustainable development and other local and global agenda, including climate change. Otherwise, it is easy, to whine on our own separate platforms without bringing a speedy resolution to the desperate Ethiopians under the military junta.

In summary, I suggest exploring the following editorial angles to covering famine, drought and development stories in the Horn of Africa. The international media and Ethiopian Diaspora media should be able to:

1. Explore how our major rivers are not being utilized to curb food shortage;

2. Establish a link between conflict, war, and the eco-system and climate change;

3. Expose corruptions related to food aid/ and the mismanagement and mis-spending of donors ‘ money;

4. Investigate exclusions and repressions inflicted by the government on famine- hit civilians;

5. As the local media is controlled, is a moral responsibility for the international media to step up reporting on famine, human rights abuses and systematic ethnic-cleansing in Ethiopia;

6. See how people in Oromia have been denied opportunities shut out from urbanization by successive Ethiopian regimes.

These six suggestions are the ones that I have distilled from my experience and long time acquaintance with Ethiopian problems as an independent reporter and human rights activist.

Qeerransoo Biyyaa

(Now in Exile)

http://www.worldgazettenews.com/news/bbc-lies-on-famine-the-only-rain-in-ethiopia-is-the-rain-of-the-cut-heads-2.html

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Oromo: The Need for Fundamental Change to Save Our Nation

February 15, 2010

The Oromo Forum for Dialogue and Reconciliation (OFDR) releases this document to extend its best wishes for the New Year and to send a message of peace and harmony to all stakeholders in the Oromo liberation camp so that they realise the consequences of disharmony, factionalism and fragmentation, and embrace a fundamental change in their attitude and political culture that can benefit the liberation movement immediately.

At the beginning of the New Millennium, i.e. long before the establishment of the OFDR, the then existing five Oromo liberation organisations came together to form the United Liberation Forces of Oromia (ULFO) with a great sense of jubilation and hope among all Oromo nationals, including those that had already lost faith in these organisations.

The shortsightedness of our political leaders led to the deterioration of ULFO and its eventual demise during the last ten years, and it also resulted in unparalleled damage to the Oromo liberation camp and the Oromo nation. Our political leaders and their supporters ignored the nation-empowering concept of ULFO to boost their own egos and applied the same principle to the proposal put forward by OFDR in 2008 without having any meaningful alternatives other than some initiatives and measures designed to fulfill their group interest and ensure their “supremacy”.

The devastating impact of the behaviour and political culture of the Oromo political leaders evolved out of uncontrolled personal and/or group ego on the liberation camp is obvious to our nation, but it is essential to point out some of them in order to gain better understanding of the root cause of our predicament:

* The ever-increasing fragmentation of organisations and multiplicity of factions with increasingly diminished ability to have any impact on the struggle against the enemy of the Oromo people. There was only one OLF when ULFO was established in 2000; there were two OLFs when OFDR was established in 2008; and now there are 3 of them. It is not hard to imagine the 3 factions of the OLF are much weaker and non-potent forces individually compared to the single OLF that had existed prior to 2002. There are even some elements of the Diaspora that are talking the possibility of a 4th faction emerging sooner or later.

* Frustrations and lack of progress pushed various prominent Oromo individuals, including intellectuals, artists, politicians and business people to “approach” the Number 1 enemy of the Oromo people, the Wayyane government, in case our enemies change their hearts and offer something short of Bilisummaa. As we have witnessed, the experience of these frustrated nationalists (jallan hamileen cabdde) has been very disappointing. Never ever colonial institutions give away their livelihood and privileges because of the niceties of a few colonial subjects.

* The fragmentation in the Oromo liberation camp also contributed to the weakening of the legally-operating Oromo political organisations and personalities in the Empire and their shift towards the conservative political establishment in Ethiopia that is led by the Abyssinian elites. Their desperation for political space in the country, particularly in the urban area like Finfine, led some of the very well known Oromo nationals to oppose some aspects of the Ethiopian Constitution in tandem with the Amhara elites and protect the use of Amharic language in Oromia.

* The desperation of our political leaders also escalated the importance of local identity rather than Oromuma as the basis of our nation and unifying symbol. Unbeknown to their supporters, our political leaders use these differences as a tool to advance their personal or group interest at the expense of our nation, including their own supporters. Anyone, who can see what is going on today in Somalia and Afghanistan, cannot support clan-based politics to prop up ultimately some bloody local warlords. Our colonial masters use the principle of “divide and rule” to stay in power, and it is shame to see our own political leaders using the same tool to “keep” us under the same rule.

* The most recent phenomenon of the fragmentation and process of marginalisation that started prior to the formation of ULFO was the act of betrayal committed by some section of WBO, including high ranking politicians. Once again, no matter how bitter it is to face such an act, it will be wiser not to inflame the situation and make unnecessary generalisation that has never helped us in the past.

At the national level, the impact of bad political culture that has been being practiced by our politicians is immeasurable in terms of Oromo human and material costs. To mention a few:

· The destruction of the fauna and flora of Oromia – directly by way of deliberately lit fires and or indirectly in the name of economic development. The poisoning of rivers, lakes, etc and surrounding environment due to unsafe and uncontrolled agricultural practices, such as the flower industry, can be mentioned as damming examples.

· The impoverishment of Oromo farmers and their evictions from their land, and the current wave of massive sale of prime farm lands to sovereign interests, such as Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Nigeria, etc, in the name of foreign investment is enriching the Tigraian ruling elites and breaking the backbone of Oromo economy.

· The mass arrests and abductions of Oromo nationals who are suspected of opposing any unfavourable government policy towards the interest of the Oromo people. For example, three students from the University of Hawasa have been abducted by the agents of the Wayane government for their alleged opposition to the pollution created by the gold mining practices in Shakiso, etc.

· The assault on Oromo institutions, including the exclusion of Oromo program from Ethio TV and its relegation to the regional state-based TV station, the closure of independent newspapers, the inferior education system, etc have been increasing from year to year.

The worsening of human rights abuses and economic deprivations in Oromia are largely influenced by the weakness and failure of the main players in the Oromo liberation camp due to their bad political culture and refusal to change for better, tolerate each other and listen to Oromo wisdom for the sake of the nation that they have suffered for until now. The OFDR is not dishing out all these criticisms for the sake of belittling our politicians or denying them their contributions and sacrifices, but to let them be aware that, without a shift of paradigm in their thinking and approach, everything they fought for is being wasted.

The OFDR believes that the starting-point for fundamental change lies in dialogue and reconciliation in the Oromo liberation camp based on Oromumma, and we all need to focus our energy on the following points if we need to get out of this doldrums in the foreseeable future:

1. The initiative taken by the OLF-Jijjirama faction to unify various Oromo organisations is commendable, but not far-reaching as important players in the Oromo liberation camp, including the OLF-Shane and OLF-QC factions and FIDO, are not part of this arrangement. The core leadership of GOPLF is not in it, and there is no clear information whether all or part of the UOPLF (Tokkumma) is in or out. We urge the three factions of OLF to leave behind their old animosities and look for reasons that can bring them together rather than keeping them apart. We cannot see how one faction is going to be triumphant over the other let alone liberating Oromia. In the end, we appeal to all factions and organisations to step over their egos and come together for the sake of saving our nation.

2. Oromo political elites should refrain from using region and religion as a tool of building their own power base and vilifying others. No matter how easy it is to follow this approach, its ultimate impact on achieving Bilisumma for all or any region is zero.

3. Oromo political elites should instill the spirit of Oromumma in the minds of their supporters and actively discourage them from using any means of communications, including Paltalk, from generalisation and marginalisation of any sector of the Oromo nation based on the acts and behaviour of their political opponents.

4. Oromo institutions, such as the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) and the Oromo National Academy (ONA), should continue to engage in the development of research materials, including concepts, models and analysis that can assist the Oromo liberation movement and exert their influence in shaping the behaviour of our political leaders.

5. Oromo community associations, mosques, churches and other civic organisations around the globe need to step up their effort to uphold Oromumma, refrain from rewarding bad behaviour and exert positive influence on our political leaders.

Finally the OFDR reaffirms its commitment towards the facilitation of dialogue and reconciliation in the Oromo liberation camp and appeal to all stakeholders to focus on the big picture, Bilisumma. Or else, history is never forgiving to those who squander opportunities and remembers them as losers and wreckers rather than founders and builders of their nations.
Oromo Forum for Dialogue and Reconciliation

http://gadaa.com/oduu/?p=2405

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Oromo: From Self-Deception via Self-Administration to Self-Determination

February 15, 2010

By Fayyis Oromia*

Few days back, one “breaking news” from Oromia came out telling the world that the beginning of 2010 is “the end for the armed struggle of the Oromo liberation movement, i.e. the OLF is almost dead.” Is this fact or fancy? Are the news makers deceiving themselves or are they devoid of the sense for reality? Did the consumers of the news fall into the trap of buying the reason for the merrymaking in the Weyane camp in the last few days? Here, I do try to show how almost all stakeholders are living in self-deception as far as the Oromo liberation movement is concerned. I think the following groups do live under such self-made “reality” about Oromo, Oromia and the Oromo liberation struggle:

- the international power players and the interested governments, such as the UK and USA, do think that they can maintain the peace and stability they want to have in the Horn of Africa by neglecting, ignoring and suppressing the Oromo liberation movement and by simply supporting the occupation force of Weyane. For this definitely will not serve their strategical interest, they seem to live under self-deception.

- the unitarist forces of the empire, which still dream to reverse the liberation move of the Oromo people towards self-determination by simply talking about the unconditional Ethiopian unity and which are still trying to dismantle the present symbolical Oromia, do also live under self-deception; and they continue to preach as if the Oromo people are interested not for national independence, but only for the individual freedom in the unitary country called Ethiopia, which they seem to romanticize.

- the hegemonist leaders of the ruling party, who are almost blind to see their near and far futurity because of the arrogance they developed based on the “military success” they had against Derg and thereafter. They are living under the self-deceptive fancy of ruling over Oromia and other national areas in the empire forever without taking into consideration the negative consequence of their present action on the fate of their future generation.

- the collaborating Oromo individuals as a part of the ruling party, who do tell us that they have already liberated the Oromo people and preach to us that now we are successfully on the way of developing economically, are living under the self-deception par excellence.

- those who are democratic federalists out of conviction and who tell us that Oromian autonomy within Ethiopian context is the end-goal of the Oromo liberation movement do live under self-deception, considering it as fact that “the Oromo people will never demand more than this federal arrangement.”

- some of the liberation fronts, which want to limit the goal of our liberation movement to the achieving of only the isolated & independent republic of Oromia, also seem to live under self-deception, and they want to convince us that the further integration of independent Oromia with its neighboring nations in whatever form “is not in our interest.”

- of course, the special group of people, who do want to live under self-deception are those Oromo individuals or groups who gave up the armed struggle and joined the ruling party. Some of them told us that “the Oromo question under the current regime is already satisfactorily answered.” The currently surrendered group under self-deception told the world that “the OLF is no more an effective freedom fighter on which Oromo people can further count.” This is the worst self-deception of all. As long as Oromia is under occupation force, OLF will stay not only alive, but continue to develop as a major force in the region. The only effective way of killing OLF is the liberation of Oromia so that the Oromo people will have no necessity to foster and support such liberation front. Otherwise, OLF has got a potential 40-million freedom fighters, including those Oromo individuals in the ruling party, whom it can mobilize whenever it needs.

The self-deception of these all stakeholders is specially regarding the fact on the ground that Oromo nationalism is growing slowly, but surely similar to a gradual rise of a sea level to slowly flow over their heads. They will just be surprised in due time how overwhelming this movement is to uncover their denial. The Oromo liberation movement is also like a slowly heating water to its boiling point. The foes of the movement will just experience that they are like frogs in such a slowly heating water. They enjoy the warmth till they will get overwhelmed in due time in the slowly boiling water.

The other very important reality on the ground, which should be accepted by all stakeholders, is that the Oromo liberation journey from this status quo of self-deception will continue by any means through achieving a self-administration envisioned by some federalist movements towards the self-determination of the nation as planned by our liberation fronts. All the above mentioned stakeholders need to perceive this reality and act accordingly for the sake of their own respective long term interest. They need to consider the inevitable Oromo liberation movement in the equation of their political calculus. Specially, the oppressed mass of both Amhara and Tegaru nations should take this into consideration and fight for the self-determination of their respective people to free from Weyane tyranny in parallel and/or in alliance with the liberation struggle of Oromo and that of other oppressed nations in the empire/region.

But my call to the factions of OLF and the different fronts of the Oromo liberation movement is again to unite or to merge. The Oromo people now has almost come to the conclusion that there is no difference of Kaayyoo (goal) between them. We, as a nation, do have only one Kaayyoo with three terms to be met through three different Karaa’s (ways): through the way of the Oromo rebel fronts, via the way of the opposition movements and/or through the way of the Oromo ruling party. Despite all the hitherto sufferings and failures, the Oromo people will push in our fight for freedom forward. I don’t think that we need a “paradigm shift” as some people try to suggest to us, but we need only a deep comprehension about the complementarity (no contradiction) of the different terms of our Kaayyoo, which each of our liberation organizations seems to follow. There is no conflict of Kaayyoo, but there is only ONE Oromo-Kaayyoo, which can be divided into the following three terms:

- the I-Kaayyoo (Immediate or short term Kaayyoo), i.e Oromian autonomy (true federation)

- the M-Kaayyoo (Middle term Kaayyoo), i.e Oromian independence without a union, and

- the E-Kaayyoo (End or long term Kaayyoo), i.e Oromian independence with a union of independent nations, including or excluding Abyssinia.

Some people are talking about only the I-Kaayyoo and they want us to make it be the E-Kaayyoo. They present it as if OLF is against the I-Kaayyoo. Such opinions are sometimes from the Weyane cadres, who are intentionally trying to create the conflict among Oromo liberation fighters, even though there is no conflict of Kaayyoo between them. Let the people in such pro-I-Kaayyoo group bring us to a genuine federation with the democratization in Ethiopia, if it really can happen. No Oromo with sound mind opposes this move. The same attempt of confusion is true for those who do try to create a conflict between I-Kaayyoo and M-Kaayyoo as well as between M-Kaayyoo and E-Kaayyoo. I am sure they all now know how every Oromo is nowadays determined to forge Tokkummaa for Bilisummaa (unity for liberty) to march together to achieve the above mentioned short, middle and long term goals – one after another.

We all first will achieve the true kilil-federation, where Oromian autonomy will be respected within the Ethiopian context. Then, only Oromo people will decide if we will be satisfied by achieving only this I-Kaayyoo or whether we will move further to the M-Kaayyoo, i.e. struggle for Oromian independence. Then again, it will be the role of only Oromo people to decide, if we will be satisfied by arriving at the middle Kaayyoo or whether we will move further to the E-Kaayyoo, i.e. to foster the union of independent nations, which may include only the hitherto oppressed nations of the empire or may include also the two Habesha nations (which till now fought against the right of oppressed nations to self-determination) or which may include all nations in the Horn. Anyways, the Oromo liberation journey is from the status quo of slavery under Weyane subjugation — through federation to secure Oromian autonomy — and through liberation in a form of Oromian independence — to the union of nations with bilisummaa Oromo (Oromo people’s freedom) and walabummaa Oromia (Oromoland’s sovereignty). In short, our Kaayyoo is, in entirety, the walfaanummaa (union) of nations with bilisummaa and walabummaa.

Specially, it is good for the consolidation of our liberation struggle to have such guideline with the union of independent nations as a common END, instead of talking about only bilisummaa Oromo and walabummaa Oromia. The advantage is that it sends good message to the Oromo liberation groups to cooperate and coordinate their move as well as it tackles the opposition from the other groups, which do have fear from the Oromo liberation movement:

- to all Oromo nationalists rallying behind different liberation movements, even to those supporting OPDO, it gives the very clear direction and guideline of moving: from the status quo kept by OPDO – first to the goal of OFC – then to the goal of OLF – at last to the goal of the AFD-like unionist, so that there is/will be no point of conflict and area of contradiction among them.

- to the Ethiopianist Oromo individuals who do oppose the Oromo liberation movement just for having “love to the united Ethiopia,” it persuades them to be obliged to choose between a unitary Ethiopia and an Ethiopian/regional union. Of course, they cannot have moral ground to prefer unitary region to regional union.

- to the other oppressed nations in the empire, which feel insecure by the rhetoric of establishing only the independent republic of Oromia, it gives them the moral and the chance to be on our side. They will feel to be part of the future union of the future free and sovereign nations in the region. It encourages them to rally on the side of Oromo freedom fighters.

- to some of the rational and democratic Habeshas who at least can see the legitimacy of our liberation struggle, but oppose it for having fear to be limited only in Abyssinia, it helps them to understand that the future union of free nations means also a custom union, a common market and a political union of all nations in the empire/region, which allows free movement of capital, goods, labour, person and service with the right for all citizens to settle in any place in the union. These group can rally beside Oromo freedom fighters, instead of crying only about the unitary empire. It is clear our main enemies (the die-hard unitarists and hegemonists, who do fight us unconditionally to bring back the unitary empire or to maintain their hegemony in the present empire), do every thing possible to hinder our forward move.

- to other sovereign nations in the Horn, like Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia, it sends the message of inclusiveness, so that they will not have irrational fear from being disadvantaged and dominated by the biggest nation of the Horn (the Oromo) in the future.

- to the international community and the superpowers which do have a big interest to keep the integrity of the empire/region, it sends one alternative way of doing it, instead of only unconditionally supporting the oppressive, dominant and undemocratic unitarists or hegemonists.

In general the opinion of having a union of independent nations as an end-goal is constructive and helpful to promote our struggle for national liberation as well as to foster the future regional integration, both of which need to be stressed and done one after another or side by side. Despite the obstacles, the setbacks and the hitherto failures, take it only 1 year, about 10 years or as long as 100 years, Oromia shall be free and a necessary stable ground for the future union of independent nations in the region will be established. We Oromo should have no illusion: we like it or not, now we are under occupation. No rhetoric can undo this fact, we need to struggle for our freedom. Time will come, when the next generation of our current oppressors will ask Oromo nation a forgiveness for the crime their ancestors did till now and are doing today. We also need to stop the blame game sometimes directed against only the leaders of our liberation movement for the unsuccess we had in our struggle. Just as we do share the glory when ever they lead us to success, we should also be ready to share the pain, when we (they) fail. It is enough that the Weyane cadres do the blaming and the accusation, in order to discourage them, 24 hours and 7 days per week in the cyber world. Let us Oromo nationalists concentrate on the constructive criticism, i.e by showing the alternative and the corrective way forward. Leading Oromo liberation is very very difficult because of many factors attributable to us Oromo people, to our foe Abyssinian rulers and to their allies (admnistrations of the neighbour nations and that of the Western nations). Here I am not saying that our leaders are free from mistakes, but I just suggest that we need to address their “weaknesses” in appropriate manner, at a right place and time. Of course we need to learn also to give them a due respect for leading us untill now under the dire circumstances to the victories we already achieved.

To have more success and victory in our future move, we should try to break the hitherto vicious cycle which may contribute to the downward spiral leading us to the strategical failure and we need to build the necessary virtuous cycle, which can promote our struggle towards success. Examples for the vicious factors are the division based on region, party and religion; passivity and inaction; as well as the negative aspects of our sub-cultures and religions, which are deviating our attention away from our liberation struggle. Because of such vicious factors, we all have paid and are still paying the price directly and/or indirectly. Some of the necessary virtues we need are such as readiness to be lead by Oromummaa and by the will of serving our national interest; a willingness to dedicate our talent, money and time for the struggle; more orientation towards and emphasis on practice, action and pragmatism in contrast to the ideologies and the theories we usually like to talk and write; last but not least we need a necessary patience and perseverance in the long lasting journey towards our End-Kaayyoo.

We also don’t forget the fact that nations like England were under occupation of the roman empire for many hundred years and nations like Israel used to lose their existence as a nation also for many hundred years. The fact that Oromia is now under occupation for the last about 150 years is not exceptional. But it is an oxymoron and a self-deception of the black community in particular and the international community in general to consider Ethiopia as a “never colonized country in Africa” and it is a paradox to accept Finfinne as “free capital city of Africa”, whereas the fact is that one of the biggest African nations, Oromia, and its capital city, Finfinnee, are under occupation of the only African partaker of the European colonizers’ scramble for Africa in the end of the 19th century, i.e Oromia and its capital city Finfinne are still under the occupation of Abyssinia. I hope in due time all the stakeholders, who are still living with the above all mentioned self-deception and denial will wake up and smell the coffee. Even if they don’t wake up, despite the discouraging stands of all the stakeholders, the different parts of the Oromo nation will slowly, but surely come together and move forward together from the present OPDO’s political position of Oromo self-deception —- via OFC’s position of Oromo self-administration —- to OLF’s position of Oromo self-determination.

Galatooma!!

* Fayyis Oromia can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Fayyis Oromia is the Voice of Oromia Person of the Year 2009.
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